Always a popular presenter at ACES conferences, Bill will leave a palpable hole at ACES 2017 in St. Petersburg later this month.

“Bill was enigmatic and curmudgeonly, but also an extremely funny, caring and helpful human being,” said Merrill Perlman, former ACES Education Fund president.

ACES was able to award Bill one of its highest honors, the Glamann Award, for contributions to the field of editing.

Bill’s boss at The Washington Post, Courtney Rukan, presented Bill with the award on ACES’s behalf on March 10.

The ACES citation states:

“In a world often looking for ever-more-minute elements of style, Bill, you’ve always kept your eye on the elephant – the essentials, the things that really matter.
“In your work as a copy chief at the Washington Post, your many books, your blog and website, ‘The Slot,’ and your many appearances at the ACES annual conference, you have turned your sharp eye on how the language should be used, while never losing your sense of humor about how it IS used.
“Yearly, the sound of laughter has been loud coming from the room in which you were presenting. And, like a good desk chief, your sessions have always met deadline – or, in fact, closed early.
“As the subtitle of one of your books notes, one can be a language snob ‘without being a jerk.’
“Bill, you’ve always aimed to educate without demeaning, to foster appreciation for why things should be done correctly without resorting to pedantry. You’ve always wanted to help those you called ‘journalism’s noble misfits’ – the copy editors who routinely seek your opinion and help.
“The executive board of the American Copy Editors Society is honored to give the 2017 Glamann Award, named for our co-founder, Hank Glamann, to our friend, colleague, and oftentimes inspiration, Bill Walsh.